Despite the publicity, Honduras is NOT the most deadly place for journalists

Research from the International News Safety Institute listed the top five deadliest places to be a journalist. The number one slot may surprise people not paying attention to such things because it is Brazil.

Given the murder rate in Honduras and all the publicity of murdered journalists there, surely that Central American country must be a close second, right?

Wrong. In fact, Honduras is not in the top five.

According to the INSI, after Brazil comes Nigeria, Somalia, Indonesia and Mexico.

Brazil among most dangerous countries for journalists during first half of 2012, research shows

As noted from the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas:

In Brazil, seven journalists were killed from January through the beginning of July: Laércio de Souza, Mario Randolfo Marques Lopes, Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues, Onei de Moura, Divino Aparecido Carvalho, Décio Sá, and Valério Luiz de Oliveira. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the country has an impunity rate of 75 percent.

Mexico is the most hostile country for freedom of expression in the American continent, with eight killed journalists during the first half of the year, and a series of armed attacks against news outlet buildings.

According to INSI director Rodney Pinder, fire arms and bombs continue to be the preferred method for censorship in many countries. “Journalists are more than ever in sight of the enemies of freedom of expression. Every and any killing suffocates the flow of information, which no free society can function without,” he said in a press release.

International meeting on journalism security in Honduras

The situation in Honduras is bad for journalists — 31 killed since 2003. In some of the cases the murders are directly related to media work — five, according to the Committee to Project Journalists. The rest of the cases are unknown because the Honduran legal system is so weak that basic investigations are difficult if not down right impossible.

The killings of the journalists also has to be put in the context of the fact that Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world — 86 per 100,000 people. In some cases, the killing of a reporter could be something as simple as “wrong place; wrong time.” Or the reporter could have been singled out for reasons other than that reporter’s work.

Whatever the reasons, the fact that journalists are being killed is of concern in the larger community. We expect journalists to be upset when a large number of our own are killed — for whatever reason. But we are also seeing the rest of the civic society groups express concern.

Non journalists are worried because the killings and threats against media workers could lead to less independent reporting or no reporting about crime and corruption at all. The NGOs, the government leaders and the journalists all make the same point: Without free and independent media, democracy is threatened.

This past week the issue of journalism safety was the focus of series of meeting organized by  Inter American Press Association and Media Association Communication.

The sessions — “Security, protection and solidarity for the freedom of expression” — led to commitments from the Honduran government to protect journalists and to fully prosecute killers of journalists.

Among the commitments from the government:

• The creation of a special prosecutor for crimes against journalists because of their professional work.
• The deputy national prosecutor said he supported reforming the Criminal Code to increased the penalty for killing a journalist from 20 to 30 years.

The IAPA session also called for the creation of a special court to hear charges brought by human rights violations and implementation of concrete actions to protect, investigate and prosecute any crime against freedom of expression.

The conference final document also called on media companies and individual journalists to take steps to enhance journalists’ security:

• Exercise  safe and responsible journalism.
• Strengthen measures of self-protection, including workshops and ethics.
• Encourage journalists to assume individual responsibility for their training in journalistic ethics and understanding their exposure to dangerous assignments.
• Urge journalists to report any threats they receive to human rights organizations and the authorities.

The conference was held in Tegucigalpa August 9 and 10. Besides journalists and representatives of  media organizations; academics, civil society members, government prosecutors, businessmen and members of the Army attended.

 

Pressure grows on Mexican government to protect journalists

The latest attack of a Mexican newspaper (Arson attack on Mexican newspaper) shows that being a journalist in Mexico is still one of the most deadly jobs one could have.

Press freedom groups are stepping up the pressure on incoming president Enrique Peña Nieto to ensure that journalists are protected from government-sponsored harassment. They also called on the president-elect to make sure that those who attack journalists or news organizations are prosecuted.

One Month After Mexico’s Presidential Elections, Attacks on Journalists and Media Continue

Larry Kilman, deputy CEO of WAN-IFRA, commented: “Journalists in Mexico are being targeted, intimidated, attacked and murdered simply for doing their jobs, and the attackers do this without fear of prosecution. The result of these actions is that citizens are no longer properly informed, and the press can no longer adequately play its role as watchdog over public institutions.”

 

Mexico enacts new law protecting journalists

Real quick:

Mexico enacts measures to protect reporters, activists

One of the decrees establishes the Law for the Protection of Journalists and Defenders of Human Rights, by which the federal and state governments eliminate jurisdictional divisions in cases of people who are “victims of threats and persecution,” [President Felipe] Calderon said.

International journalism groups also commented:

IAPA welcomes enactment of law to Protect Journalists in Mexico

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) Expressed satisfaction at the signing Into law today by President Felipe Calderon Mexico’s measure of a That will serve to Protect Journalists and human rights defenders. At the Same time, the IAPA urged the Government to speed up actions to put Into effect a constitutional Amendment That Brings Crimes Against members of the press under federal jurisdiction.

In the meantime, journalists continue to come under fire from the narcos and corrupt local officials.

And there is some good news.

Journalist Stephania Cardoso and her 2-year-old son were found alive and are now under police protection.

Cardoso, a police beat reporter, was kidnapped June 12.

Mexican constitution amended to protect freedom of expression

A recent change to the Mexican Constitution gives authorities the power to prosecute crimes against free expression.

While on the surface this is a good thing — for too long the Mexican authorities have done little to prosecute those who have attacked and killed journalists in the country. But one of the potential down sides is that it could lead the Mexican government to determine who is a journalist.

We have seen this issue raised in a number of other countries.

Brazil, for example, under the dictatorship required a special degree from accredited universities to be called a journalist. That requirement remained in place under the subsequent democratic governments until just a few years ago when the Brazilian Supreme Court struck down the requirement as an infringement of free expression.

The Brazilian senate in 2009, however, returned to the issue and proposed legislation to once again require some sort of government approved credential.

Seeing such requirements in non-democratic countries is a given.

Fortunately, the Article 19 people included a call that any supporting legislation to the constitutional amendment must:

[P]rohibit compulsory membership in professional journalist associations or licensing systems for those wishing to practice the journalist profession. Instead, these amendments must provide a broad definition of journalists that should include citizen journalists, bloggers and other social communicators.

Now we just have to wait and see what happens.